Introduction to Kalistani Politics
This is intened to be a guide for newcomers to Kalistan, to help them understand how the country works and what rules it has that might not be immidiately obvious. This is an explanation of Kalistani political traditions, not of the rules of the game itself, which is explained in the game's FAQ. Basics Government Type Kalistan is currently a Federal Republic. When Kalistan is a federal republic its head of state is the President, its head of government is the Chancellor, and its legislature the Parliament. Kalistan has been known historically to be an Imperial Republic. In Kalistan an imperial republic means that the Head of State is the Emperor (alteratively Floob), who is still elected, but must be a member of the House Ananto. This means you can run for HoS as usual, as long as your candidate has "Ananto" somewhere in their last name. The Head of Government becomes the Prime Minister, and the legislature the Imperial Parliament. It is unclear if this will happen any time soon, but it may. Since Kalistan's founding it has held elections every three years. Kalistan is unique in that it has a Judicial Branch (for RP purposes only). Geography Kalistan's regions are called states (formerly provinces), and are all located on Seleya except for Ananto. Ananto is home to the capital, Kaliburg, and is the most populous, wealthy, and powerful of the provinces. Suldanor is similar to Ananto. Both Ananto and Suldanor are usually leftist, however this varies a lot. Neveras, Vrassa, and to a lesser extent Odufaray are much less populous and are assumed to be rural, mountains, and arid. They generally vote for conservative or libertarian parties. Economy Kalistan has a large GDP but one of the world's smallest populations, meaning that it is very wealthy. Because of capitalist policies, most of this wealth is concentrated, but even Kalistan's poor and unemployed are still well off because of the state's welfare policies. The main industries are tourism, treacle drilling, pharmaceutical production, and wine cultivation. Culture Kalistan currently has an active drug culture, as well as a large industry made of drug and wine cultivation. Kalistan's leading church is the highly conservative Episcopal Church of Kalistan. Kalistan has an official language other than English, Anantonese (as well as numerous others that never seem to come up: Languages of Kalistan), and a royal family, the Ananto family. Executive Powers President *The president is the only person who can appoint a cabinet. *The president can choose to be protected by either the National Security Agency, the militia of their party, or the militia of their coalition. If the president chooses to be protected by a militia, that militia now requires a 2/3s vote to be declared illegal. *The president calls for justices to be seated on the National Constitutional Court. *The presidential party gets to appoint two justices to the National Constitutional Court every cycle. *The president cannot also serve in the cabinet or constitutional court. If a justice or minister is elected president, he is given three months to resign his other positions. Chancellor *Head of, and speaker for both the cabinet and the parliament. Minister of Justice *Like all parties, the party of the Minister of Justice has the right to appoint a justice to the National Constitutional Court. The Minister of Justice's choice, however, maintains the tie-breaking vote throughout that term, if there are an even number of justices. *The federal prosecutor's office is under the Minister of Justice. Minister of Internal Affairs *The Minister of Internal Affairs oversees the National Security Agency. This means, among other things, that he has the power to bring a complaint against a party militia before parliament, which will vote on whether to outlaw that militia (1/2 vote for most militias, 2/3s for those protecting the president). *Internal Affairs and the NSA are in charge of federal investigations. Minister of Finance *The Minister of Finance is the only person who can legally propose changes to tax law and appropriations. Minister of Foreign Affairs *Establish embassies *Propose treaty ratifications, but no more than five each election cycle. Laws Affecting Parliament These laws don't have any in game effect, but were passed by amendments which were resolutions, i.e. had no articles but were still laws. The game has no method of enforcing or reacting to these laws, but as a party you should still observe them. Amendment Guideline If you are making an amendment to the constitution that doesn't involve a proposal (e.g. all presidential candidates must have the last name "Ananto"), you must make it clear that it is an amendment, and must pass a 2/3 majority. This was decided in White v. Diamond. Conflict Law For Kalistan to enter an RP which involves violent conflict, all the parties in parliament must unanimously approve a resolution to do so. This includes RPing wars with other countries, RPing civil wars, or even RPing widespread civil unrest. The resolution should explain what is being proposed (e.g. war with Gaduridos). Note that this is different from an actual declaration of war, because this resolution is to confirm whether or not the players want to take part in the war, not whether or not their parties do. Bill Descriptions Law It is illegal to propose a bill without giving it a real description. This is enforced by the other parties voting against the bill regardless of its contents. You should follow this rule by both giving descriptions and by objecting when someone else doesn't. Censure Law Though this law has never been used, it is legal for a party to be censured by the parliament. Censure requires a 2/3s vote of the parliament to pass, and once in effect means that the party in question is "banned from legislatial duties for 24 hours." Because that cannot itself be enforced, the party is encouraged to take a hiatus for a day, and will be ignored by the other parties. Originally it was hoped that the game administrators would enforce this, though trying would probably not be succesful. National Constitutional Court Appointments Every other election cycle, each party in parliament gets to nominate a justice to the National Constitutional Court. This justice can either be a member of your party, or a member of another. In addition, the presidency and the largest party in parliament (that isn't also the president's party) also get to appoint a justice. Treaty Limit Law No party in control of foreign affairs in the cabinet can propose ratification of more than five treaties per election cycle. Ministry of Finance Law Even though anyone can technically propose a taxing or spending bill, those powers are reserved for the party that controls of the Ministry of Finance in the cabinet. This applies to bills that are proposed from the cabinet menu, not sales and corporate tax bills. This law is enforced the same as the Bill Descriptions Law. Judicial Branch The Constitutional Court was established in 2385 by the National Constitutional Court Charter Act. The court acts as a third branch of government, but can only do so in RP cases that have no effect on actual game aspects. So the court cannot, for example, overturn an existing law. Since the court is brand new, there isn't much to say about it yet. Appointment Process The court justices are theoretically appointed after every other election. In reality, they are appointed whenever the current president calls a Seating of the Constitutional Court. Appointments are made by nominating a party, who will act as the justice (and come up with a name for him/her). The appointments works thus: * Each party can appoint one justice from their or another party. * The party in control of the presidency gets to appoint a second justice. * The largest party in parliament that does not control the presidency gets to appoint a second justice. * If a justice resigns during his term, he appoints his replacement. Review Process Because this hasn't been tested much yet, there isn't much to say. * Any party can bring a case to the court. To do this, start a thread with the title of the case (eg. White v. Diamond), an explanation of the plaintiffs and defendents and the tort involved in the case. * The court must accept any case brought before it. They will then argue over the case until a majority opinion can be decided. * This opinion, which means what the constitutional results of the case will be, is then put to a vote. A case is decided by a simple majority vote of the justices. * If there is an even number of justices, and a vote ends in a tie, that tie is broken by counting the vote of the justice who was appointed by the party who controled the Ministry of Justice at the time of appointment (this is the Chief Justice) counting twice. * Decisions made by the court cannot be appealed. Militias As of 2385, each party is allowed one militia, or "private security agency." In addition, each coalition or bloc of parties can itself have one security agency. These militias can legally own and conceal military grade weapons, but do not themselves have any special police powers or anything of that nature. Obviously, this is only relevant to RPing. The state also operates a security agency, the National Security Agency, which is run by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Among other things, the NSA is in charge of regulating the militias. The NSA is also the default Presidential guard, however the President may decide to go with his party or coalition's miltia rather than use the NSA. The NSA is also, rather importantly, bring a motion before parliament to ban a militia, which requires a majority (or if the militia is currently protecting the president, a 2/3s majority) to pass. When this happens all the special rights awarded to the militia are striped, and they can be arrested if they don't turn in weapons immediately. This was made legal in the National Security Agency Charter Act of 2385. International Relations Kalistan does not like Gaduridos. In addition to fighting a number of wars against them, the island of Vintalli is home to people who are ethnically the same as many Kalistanis and different from Gaduris, as well as a historical possession of Kalistan. This leads to easy conflicts with Gaduridos. In 2370, about a million wealthy conservatives from Kalistan migrated to Gishoto. While this emmigration could hypothetically lead to either animosity or alliance between the two countries, Kalistan currently pursues a policy of ignoring Gishoto (the process of emmigration was very unpleasant). Kalistanis do not like Deltaria. At all. Deltaria is generally avoided whenever possible, and refered to in very negative tones in private. But because Kalistan has no interest in an open war with Deltaria, the relationship remains one of mutual loathing and not open conflict. Kalistan feels similarly towards Deltaria Nova. Kalistan has been known to fight wars against Lodamun, but relations have been smooth for many years. Kalistan was a member of the Defense Entente with Dorvik and Hobrazia, however this has decayed over the centuries. Kalistan has also historically gotten along well with Selucia. Isolationism For the past two hundred years Kalistan has been firm in its utter refusal to take part in wars or any other type of violent RP. This is mainly because of the Conflict Law, which makes taking part in an RP much harder.